Through the use of a control system, various equipment or appliances in an environment, such as a home or business, can be computer-controlled to form an automated environment. The controlled equipment may include heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, lighting systems, audio-visual systems, telecommunications systems, security systems, surveillance systems, and fire protection systems, for example. The equipment may be coupled to equipment controlling devices that are linked to a computer-based master controller through the use of a control area network. One or more user interface devices, such as a touch panel, may also be linked to the control area network to accept user input and display current system status.
Traditional control systems typically have no or limited support for grouping a plurality of devices. The limited support provided by the traditional control systems have required unstable workarounds in order to group the behavior of the devices.